Golf

Playing golf in Ireland has a mystique all of its own, a charm that will beguile and enthrall and make you feel all the better for having battled through the wind on a seaside links; the friendliest 19th hole in the planet welcomes you after having used your head as a 15th club in managing a way around an inland course.

For an island of its size, Ireland – North and South – offers more golf courses than any country of comparable size on this planet. In fact, you will find 40 per cent of the world’s links courses in Ireland. It would take a lifetime and more to appreciate it all, but the beauty of playing golf on the Emerald Isle is that there are so many fine and diverse courses. What’s more, all of them are accessible to the visiting golfer, many of which are incredible value; for example, green fees on parkland courses can begin at around €10 – €16.

Mother Nature gifted Ireland with many beautiful features, and course architects have used towering sand hills, its rivers and lakes, its mountains and drumlins, its cliff tops and forests to create one great course after another. One of the most challenging and dramatic courses in Ireland, the K Club in County Kildare, is to play host to the 2006 Ryder Cup. The Irish didn’t invent golf, but it will seem that way to anyone who savours the unique allure of playing here. It’s a game we’ve adopted and nurtured into something special. Enjoy!